Parking garage work in Northampton will disrupt traffic on Gothic and Center streets

NORTHAMPTON — As the two-level parking garage begins to take shape where the former Northampton Police Department building stood, construction will disrupt traffic this week.

Northampton Police Chief Russell P. Sienkiewicz said in a statement that starting Tuesday and running through Friday, parking will not be allowed on Gothic Street from the construction site south to Main Street.

In addition, concrete trucks will be pouring footings and walls from Center Street on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Travel will be restricted to one lane in both locations, and police will be directing traffic. Drivers may want to seek alternate routes, Sienkiewicz said.

Sienkiewicz said the construction of the $4.5 million parking structure is still on track to be completed around the third week of November.

There will be 55 spaces in the finished structure; 42 for court employees, 10 for the Hampshire Council of Governments, three handicapped parking spaces, and charging stations for electric and hybrid vehicles, he said.

After 5 p.m. and on weekends and holidays, those spaces will be available to the public, Sienkiewicz said.

Sienkiewicz said a recent parking study found there was a lack of adequate parking in the downtown area, especially at night.

The new structure will help to correct that, he said.

The price tag of the new garage, which will have access from Gothic Street on its lower level and on Center Street from the upper, was part of the total $17.6 million project to construct the new police station.

“That’s part of the beauty of it,” Sienkiewicz said.

According to Sienkiewicz, there may be another few days in late October when traffic in the Center and Gothic street areas will be disrupted as more large-scale construction on the structure takes place.